24 Aug The Ditch Bag

One of our bigger safety projects this summer has been to build our ditch bag. This is one of those things that we really hope we’ve wasted a bunch of money on. But should we ever need it, we want it to have exactly what we need!

There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all ditch bag. Everyone’s is different, depending on where they boat, what the likely rescue scenarios are and the budget. Just because this is what we have does not mean it’s right for you— particularly if you are planning to go offshore.

Right now, we’re cruising southern Florida and the Keys and the Bahamas. We’re not planning any multi-day passages or major offshore trips. We don’t have a lift raft; with our present cruising plans, the dinghy is our evacuation vessel. Our dinghy always has two life jackets, an anchor and a solar light aboard, so these are not part of our ditch kit.

We chose the contents of our ditch bag for:

Communication – notifying other boats and the Coast Guard of our predicament and making sure they can find us.

Injuries – people are often seriously injured in situations where a boat has to be evacuated. Burns, major bleeding and broken bones are the primary things we’re worried about.

Keeping ourselves alive – food and water are the big items, along with our daily medications.

Necessary items – if the boat is lost what would we need immediately?

Below is a simple list of our gear with links to what we bought from wherever we bought it. I plan to write some additional posts on specific pieces of gear and why we chose the model we did. Where I’ve already written about something, I include that link also.

First is the basic gear:

Ditch bag. We got our floating ditch bag free with our EPIRB. You can also use a waterproof bag, sealed 5-gallon bucket or all sorts of other things.

Waterproof crank/solar flashlight. Disasters always seem to happen at night and you need to be able to see. Tied onto the bag where it’s easy to find first of anything.

SOLAS Reflexite reflective tape. I put tape on everything I could, paying particular attention to the “critical” gear. If it should go in the water at night, I want to be able to find it.

Lock & Lock waterproof containers. Much of the gear needs to be kept as dry as possible — and organized. Got three of these (it has a handle but is watertight) and one of these (this just fits the solar charger). And from Amazon, got two of these (they fit the old Orion flares and are waterproof vs. the round flare container in the photo above) and already had one of these (for papers). The airspace inside these will also help the bag to float.

Duct tape — as much as there’s room for (wrap some around a pencil if you need to make a small roll).

Swim noodle, cut into chunks. The ditch bag says it will float 25 pounds of gear but we want to be sure it will float if we miss getting it into the dinghy. Air in the Lock & Lock boxes will help, but I also took a swim noodle and cut it into chunks to put into every nook and cranny I could.

Communication is the first key since we are near other boats and the Coast Guard (assuming we can’t make it to shore under our own power, which is also a possibility with the dinghy). We believe that with the following, we would be found within 72 hours (actually, less than that, but for food purposes . . .):

Handheld GPS (and 8 sets of extra batteries) — ours is 10 years old but still works; lithium batteries hold their power in storage. Phone has GPS too for backup but we want to be able to tell rescuers exactly where we are.

UPDATE: About a month after we packed the ditch bag, the Sirius Signal electronic flares came out (see them on Amazon). We love the idea of not having burning slag and now have one in the bag, too. Since we think it’s impossible to have too many signalling devices, we left the other flares in, too. We carry extra batteries for the Sirius Signal — it comes with 3 “C” batteries and we carry 12 extra.

ANOTHER UPDATE: We also now have a DeLorme inReach SE satellite tracker/communicator. We really got it to show where we are online and for the text communication ability, but it would be invaluable in an emergency. On passage, it’ll be hooked onto the ditch bag “just in case.”

Injuries — we figure that a fire, explosion or holing the boat are the most likely reasons we’d have to abandon ship. Consequently, our ditch bag contains what I call our “oh shit!” medical supplies to deal with burns, major bleeding and broken bones, along with a few more everyday items. You may have different needs or feel different products are best. This is one area where you just can’t take everything, so figure out what you are most likely to need that would be life-saving.

Staying Alive — we are coastal cruising and with our communication devices we plan (hope!) that help will arrive within three days. Hence, no fishing gear or watermaking capability.

Water — four ounces per person per day is considered the absolute minimum. I can’t imagine that in the heat of south Florida at certain times of the year. Instead of the little pouches (expensive!) I bought a package of 12 12-ounce water bottles for just a couple bucks at the grocery!

Dog water dish— Paz is small so we just use a silicone muffin cup as her travel water bowl. I stuck an extra one in the ditch bag.

SOS Emergency Food Rations — 1200 calories per person per day, with a tiny bit given to Paz (she eats less than 100 calories a day). 5 year shelf life and food that won’t make you thirsty. Supposedly doesn’t taste too bad.

Sunscreen — if you’ve just had to abandon the boat, sunscreen isn’t at the top of your list. But in south Florida, you’re going to burn fast!

Sun hats — not the prettiest, but it’ll keep us more comfortable and help avoid dehydration. Plus you can wet it with salt water and stick it on your head for major cooling action! Got the white (milk) as it’ll be coolest in the sun.

Daily medications – a 5-day supply and we change it out every month.

Necessary when we reach shore — with luck, our phone will be with us and still working. But pretty much everything else we own is on the boat. What will we need in those first few days?

Car keys – since we are coastal cruising and have a car, we’re want to be able to use it to put our lives back together. Easier than calling a locksmith and having a new key made.

Boat documentation and insurance (copies)

Credit card copies — some companies will issue an extra card, which is even better

Cash

Note that this is emphatically not an offshore ditch bag. We are coastal cruising in an area with good rescue services. This is what we feel will serve us where we are going in the near future. It’s possible that we’re wrong. I hope we never find out if we did it right!

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Ability to “create” water — either a hand watermaker or a solar still. More food and fishing gear. More medical. If crossing an ocean, maybe a satphone in waterproof container. Even if signalling works perfectly, I’d assume it could be longer than 3 days to be rescued.

Thanks! I’d forgotten Paz’s rabies cert. I plan to do a post on *packing* the ditch bag, but we use lithium batteries (10 year shelf life) and put them in several different containers so that if one gets flooded or lost, we haven’t lost all our batteries.

Alex

Awesome, as usual. Where do you keep your original passports and DL? I wouldn’t want my passport to go down with the ship, as I was born abroad, I can’t easily prove my citizenship with a duplicate birth certificate. (Hint, you can have an extra original driver’s license if you “lose” one and get a replacement. This can be done online in many states now that photos are digital.)

Funny that you mention that. Dave and I were just talking over breakfast and saying that maybe we should put the original docs (passport, boat docs, etc.) in the ditch bag and consider that as their regular home. If we need them for something, it’s just as easy to get them out of there as out of a file drawer on the boat. Obviously, we’d keep them all in a waterproof Lock & Lock box.

Mary Mathisson

Thanks for the article! I was thinking of adding a flash drive with various documents saved there, e.g. passports, photocopies of credit cards, etc. I like the tip about housing the actual passports/docs in the ditch bag too.

David mauney

Thanks for a great article. I am modifying my bag now to add the electronic flares and copies of documents. I also added several survival tricks that are very cost effective that can be purchased at Walmart. Such as water purifying and camp survival tools.

Steven Zang

Great article!
I would consider adding diphenhydramine (benadryl) as your epi-pen effects will wear off fast. I would also consider swapping your quikclot for something similar but not exothermic (i.e. celox). http://amzn.to/2g7ilg2

Thanks again for all you do. I really enjoy the articles and feel connected as I lived near you growing up. My uncle actually lived at Lake Mattoon. I hope to follow your footsteps when I retire.

We do keep it packed all the time and the things that we use daily we simply keep in the ditch bag when they’re not in use (or, as with the VHF, being charged) and double check before we get underway that they’re in place.

I should have added that by using those items on a regular basis, we keep them charged and know they’re working. We also try to go through the whole bag and check items about a month before we’re going to leave on a major trip (that is, when we were leaving the US for the Bahamas, not every leg of the time in the Bahamas) — while we’re in a place with access to stores and online shopping — to make sure everything works, everything is there, batteries are up to date, etc. Meds and documents are especially important to check.

Ours is a coastal cruising ditch bag. If we were doing more open water stuff, we would add that. I think those are two of the biggest differences between a coastal and offshore ditch bag, along with obviously needing more food and medical supplies.

Laura Ann

Hi Carolyn,
Great article and website! My husband and I are new to cruising and REALLY appreciate your experience and tips.
I have a couple of suggestions for your medical kit. I taught trauma medicine in special operations for 10 years (served 26 total), husband did 16 years in SOF (3 wars, 600 combat rotations) and were both in a SMU – the only reason I give that background is to substantiate my comments.

Quick clot “pads” are not as effective for stopping bleeding as something like Combat gauze (or a torn up t-shirt). Without going into a whole trauma lesson, “pads” cannot get into all the nooks and cranny’s that traumatic bleeding typically comes from. Packing (pressure) is what stops massive hemorrhage. The chemicals applied to these dressings are nice but not necessary – and they are expensive!
Cohesive elastic bandage is great on dry land but doesn’t stick well after it gets wet (water or blood). It also becomes impossible to work with after it has been “squished” into a go-bag. So we got rid of it completely and started using 3″ Ace bandages entirely. Two great things: it can be reused and repositioned multiple times and works well when wet. One tip, throw away the metal clips that come with it, they never stay and usually end up in a knee, just tie the ends to itself to secure it.
Sorry this got so long winded, I’m passionate about trauma medicine and “making do”.

Gretel

Amanda Searle

We have a couple of those cooling towels in ours. Takes up no room and are a godsend in the heat. Can be used with any water at any temperature, even sweat. We use ours all through the summer and for the ladies with menopause hot flashes….they are your best friend. This is not where I got mine but it gives you a good idea of what I’m talking about.

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Welcome

Hi! I'm Carolyn Shearlock. My husband and I have been cruising over 10 years and 10,000 miles, first on a Tayana 37 monohull and now on a 34' Gemini catamaran. Along the way, we sold pretty much everything we owned (twice!), gained a great boat dog, had a bunch of wonderful times and some adventures . . . and learned a ton about what does and doesn't work!

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